Impact of influencer marketing on purchase intention of Post millennials: the moderating influence of perceived Authenticity

Abstract

In existing postmodern arena, in-depth understanding and implementation of social media marketing practices have become imperative for the success of the firm. Particularly, firms must optimise the key aspects of different social media marketing. Some of the most important aspects of social media marketing that organization ought to give consideration are readily available social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, Snapchat. With the changing times and new era, we have come across an entirely new form of brand communication through social media that is influencer marketing. With this, companies have been facing issues in reference to creating a connection with digital natives who do not respond to traditional ways of marketing. Post millennials are digital natives who prefer authentic sources and therefore find it difficult to develop brand loyalty. A theoretical model has been developed to understand the perceived authenticity of influencer marketing in shaping the purchase intentions of post millennial. The central argument of this thesis is that the influencers who are perceived to be authentic have stronger positive impact on the purchase intentions of post-millennials. Primary data was collected from 231 respondents in the particular age group through the use of electronic mediums. The purpose was to support the argument made and test the hypothesis generated. The collected data was analysed through SPSS. The main finding revealed a positive impact of influencer marketing on post millennials purchase intentions. The moderating influence of perceived authenticity has proved to strengthen the relationship between influencer marketing and purchase intentions. However, the study is not without limitations therefore recommendations and limitations are also discussed by pointing towards the need for more studies on the subject matter at hand to either verify or refute the findings of this study.